Microscale meteorology Reference Libraries

Air mass thunderstorms are found in marine time tropical air. In short they are also known as MT Thunderstorms. Air mass thunderstorms represent what is known as the common three stage thunderstorm development. This means that an air mass thunderstorm goes through the stages of Cumulus which is represented by the updrafts only being present; secondly it moves into the mature stage where it...

In this lesson we are going to take a look at super-cell thunderstorms and what they mean and how they impact our daily lives. First, a super-cell thunderstorm is formed from a cumulus-nimbus cloud.  Super-cell thunderstorms are the most advanced form of thunderstorms known on earth. This is because these types of thunderstorms need so many things to come together in the atmosphere at the...

Orographic thunderstorms are formed when the air is pushed up a mountain side. This type of thunderstorm is found only on the windward side of a mountain range. In the United States we would find these types of thunderstorms on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains and also on the western slopes of the Appalachians. Things that make this thunderstorm important: First of all they only...

It is very important to understand what you are looking at when working with weather maps. In the image above we are looking at surface wind barbs. Surface wind barbs help us to identify which direction the wind is blowing and also the speed of the wind. If we look in the Northern Gulf of Mexico just to the south of Mississippi we see a wind barb in blue. This wind barb is from the East and...

Wind Shear (windshear, wind gradient) is described as difference in wind speed and direction over a short distance in the atmosphere. Wind shear is broken down into vertical and horizontal components. Horizontal wind shear is seen across weather fronts and near coastal regions. A vertical wind shear is found near the surface, or at upper levels of the atmosphere. Wind shear is a meteorological...